Mysterious Island (2005)

To escape evils of the Civil War, Cyrus removes his small family and random war prisoners by way of hot air balloon. Once landing on an island, the group finds they are surrounded by danger from giant insects and gold-craving pirates. Turned away by the only safe haven on the island, owned by Captain Nemo, played by Sir Patrick Stewart, the group is forced to find shelter and survive.

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On a scale of 1 to 10 this one owes ME points3/22/2006 12:00:00 AM by dave-8471

Picture a pirate captain (NOT Long John Silver) with really long hair and a constant 1 day stubble of beard. Now make him try to talk like the most famous pirate ever (played by Robert Newton) and have him do it very badly.

Picture beautiful Thailand with lush vegetation. Now superimpose cheesy giant CGI critters that look like they were thrown together in an afternoon of programming while playing the original "DOOM!" game.

Picture Jules Verne rolling over. And over. And over. Which he undoubtedly did during the writing of a script that ignores both the ideas and the spirit of his masterful book. I'm accustomed to seeing novels hacked at to transition them from print to film, but this is the very epitome of a hatchet job. Necessary characters are dropped completely, and unnecessary characters are added. The plot has been changed in not-so-subtle ways. And while I have great respect for Patrick Stewart and his talent this movie even makes him look bad.

The kids may enjoy this simply because they are kids, but this is not something I would recommend for a serious fan of Jules Verne. They might hurt themselves while they are kicking the TV.

Wow, this is incredibly bad.3/3/2007 12:00:00 AM by Anonymous_Maxine7

Knowing that several of the actors in this movie have turned in remarkable roles in other films and television shows, I have come to suspect that the massive performance deficiencies displayed in this film are the result of what appears to be nonexistent direction. When I look at the performances given here, I can only picture director Russell Mulcahy standing behind the camera giving the same direction that Bob MacKenzie (Rick Moranis) was given by his brother Doug in Strange Brew ("PSST!! Act! Act!!").

I am familiar with a good portion of the work of Jules Verne, as well as the astonishing and disappointing creative liberties that are so often taken with his work (it still blows my mind completely that they added a DUCK to the 1959 adaptation of Journey to the Center of the Earth), but I have not read Mysterious Island so I don't know how faithful the film is to the original story. In any case, there is not a single passable performance in the movie, the direction is completely witless, and the special effects are deplorable. A 15-year-old with an outdated copy of After Effects could do better than this.

Besides all that, I will be perfectly happy to live out the rest of my life and never again see a movie in which someone washes up onto a beach, sleeping soundly, and then coughs once or twice before getting up to go exploring. Are the giant insects not enough reason for suspension of disbelief? And don't even get me started on the pirates, my god what a joke. First of all, not only do our heroes react with hostility and violence when they finally encounter other normal human beings of the non-gigantic-man-eating-insect variety on the island, but after inviting them over to their humble Robinson Crusoe home, complete with dinner table, place settings for ten, goblets, eating utensils, candles, and the like, but once convinced of the defected pirates' trustworthiness, they give one of them - a caveman looking sort from years surviving on the island ? a total celebrity makeover, shave, haircut, gel, new clothes, etc. I guess they forgot that they are surviving, too.

The worst thing that the movie does, besides the deplorable performances and ridiculous screenplay (I can even forgive awful direction as long as the effort is there), is that it tries to create dramatic and intense situations when there is no reason for it. The captain jumps maybe 15 feet into the water to lighten the load on the hot air balloon, and everyone freaks out as though he jumped out of a plane. Other humans are greeted with suspicion as though anyone has any reason to be afraid for their lives. At one point, the eagle-eyed Neb, played by Omar Gooding, uses a telescope to spot a massive, four-masted pirate ship maybe a hundred yards off shore. He calls to the captain and explains that he has spotted a pirate ship and hands him the telescope, somehow intuitively knowing that the captain will not be able to see Old Ironsides blotting out the horizon without it.

I'll go right ahead and admit that I had extremely low expectations for the show, it's made-for-TV, first of all, and I've yet to see a single competently made Jules Verne film adaptation, but I've seen better acting in an elementary school drama class, and the script could not possibly be dumber. Who thought it would be a good idea to have the good guys sneak up on the pirate ship behind a floating log, for God's sake?? Come on guys, let's just swim right out to the ship, no one will notice!

Wow. Miss this one.

Cheesy at best...............7/12/2007 12:00:00 AM by cudaseeker-12

Don't waste your time with this. If I had known that this was a made for TV movie, with fade outs for commercials, and a "to be continued" pause in the middle of the DVD, I would not have rented it. It was a waste of 2 hrs & 45 minutes of my time. I do believe that the special effects were supposed to be cheesy, as if to imitate the 1961 original film. If that was the case, they didn't even match up to that and that movie is 45 years old for crying out loud! But go rent the original. It was much better. Even Jason and the Argonaut movies hands down had 100 times better effects than this movie. Patrick Stewart, one of my favorite actors of today and the main reason that I rented it, was fair at best. You could tell that he was just walking through this role and suffering along with the rest of us. And he sure was not at all interested in vying for an Oscar or Emmy. Yikes!! Oh, and did I mention that this was a totally useless movie? Stay away......a galaxy far, far away!

Fascinating adventures and glimmer scenarios along with colossal animals7/6/2009 12:00:00 AM by ma-cortes5

This new adaptation from Jules Verne novel starts on American Civil War, after the battle of Richmond. An Union POWs , an officials named Cyrus(Kyle McLachlan), Pencroff(Jason Durr), an African-American soldier(Omar Gooding), a mother(Gabrille Anwar) and her daughter(Calvert) escape in an observation balloon and terminate stranded on a lonely South Pacific island . They must to use their talents to survive dangers, facing off pirates(Vinnie Jones) and devise a way to return home. At the uncharted island find gigantic bugs such as large serpents, giants spiders,monstrous dragonfly, enormous rat , among them. Off course , also encounter captain Nemo(Patrick Stewart) and his loyal helper Joseph(Roy Marsden) and his riveting submarine of the future called Nautilus. Furthermore an unstable volcano on the edge of eruption.

This follow-up to ¨20.000 leagues under the sea¨ is an exciting fantasy-adventure full of special effects created by computer-generator. The runtime is overlong with several incidents and sub-plots , taking too much liberties from original novel.The cast is great but wasted, as weak performance by Patrick Stewart, unforgettable Star Trek's Piccard. Colorful cinematography , being filmed on location an island of Thailand. The motion picture is middling directed by Russel Mulcahy.

Another versions based on this classic story are the following and filmed before : 1) Silent rendition made in 1929 2) Directed by Cy Endfield (1961), and starred by Michael Craig, Joan Greenwood and Herbert Lom as Nemo, with creatures designed by the master Ray Harryhausen, it's the best adaptation, and 3) European take on by Juan Antonio Bardem(1973) with Omar Shariff as captain Nemo.

Patrick Stewart was the best Special Effect in this film3/24/2006 12:00:00 AM by mike-33332

Did anyone else notice that Patrick Stewart was not actually on location in Thailand with the rest of the cast. All his scenes were in a studio or against a 'Blue' screen, even when appearing to be in scenes with other actors - probably the best Special Effect in this film. Perhaps he did not realise how bad the film really was as he was not really there.

Special effects reminded me of Jason and the Argonauts (1963), although not as realistic.

It's difficult to rate the film out of 10. If you take it as a serious film it rates very low, but if you think of it as a comedy then it could be rated quite highly.